we go now to ukraine where we are joined by peter zalmayev, the director of the eurasia democracy. is joining us from outside of kyiv. peter, welcome to democracy now! you have this emergency curfew that has just been imposed. what is it, 35, 36 hours? can you describe what you are experiencing right now in your community? >> well, the curfew being imposed by the mayor is definitely clearly designed to prevent any provocation inside. we now have information that weeks prior to the invasion, russians have sent their diversionary groups, these clandestine cells, to infiltrate ukrainian cities, particularly kyiv. there have been a few doz identified in the first phase of the work in an attempt to take kyiv by force. several of these, numbering hundreds, were neutralized, by which i mean destroyed. but the fear is there is still a lot of them there and they will try to attack from the inside. kyiv is living relatively, considering we have 2, 3 rocket attacks per day, it is already getting normalized to the idea that the capital of ukraine is getting rocket attacks and a few people die

and you throughout, peter zalmayev, in the donetsk.t will happen to these two areas, crimea and donetsk, in addition as ukraine promising something that putin was demanding before the invasion, which is that they remain neutral, that they now become a part of nato? i think there are some broad outlines of a discussion of crimea won't be dealt with for the next 15 years. >> well, that is precisely the sticking point. vladimir putin knows zelenskyy's go shade is between -- negotiated between rock and a hard place. a formula is being searched for such as freezing the issue for 15 years and entering this long period of negotiations. that is something -- ue to be told, ukrainian does not have the strength right now to liberate those areas. ving said that the will know once vladimir putin goes, there's a good chance these places, these areas will revert to ukraine regardless of what happens. the severe sanctions regime and the hundreds of billions of dollars of russian sovereign wealth fund that have been frozen on western bank accounts will

joining us from outside kyiv in ukraine, peter zalmayev, executive director of the eurasia initiativea nonprofit which promotes democracy and rule of law in former comest countries. from russia's capital moscow, pavel felgenhauer, defense and military analyst. and from germany's capital berlin, andreas umland, analyst at the stockholm center for eastern european studies, part of the swedish institute for international affairs. thank you all for joining us. we appreciate your time. peter, let me start with you. with all that you are seeing and experiencing on the ground there in ukraine, when you hear that these negotiations are going on, that russia wants to see ukraine declare its neutrality, do you think that that is something that is actually feasible right now? peter: well, so far going by the track record of the way that russians have communicated their intentions, i would not hold my breath. in the weeks running up to russia's invasion on february 20 for, we -- february 254, we heard reassurances -- then days before the invasion, pressure said they were withdrawn troops. -- russ

peter zalmayev, executive director of the eurasia democracy initiative.rom moscow, andrey kortunov, director general of the russian international affairs think tank. and zachary paikin, a researcher in the eu foreign policy unit at the center for european policy studies. it has been decided to decrease military activities in kyiv and chernihiv. is this from your perspective a positive sign? peter: as a sign, it may be positive. but what is the trust that is going to be the case? the russian federation has been less than trustworthy on these issues. prior to february 24, the russian side it was -- said it was pulling troops from the border. then it turned around and hit ukraine with a massive shock and awe campaign of bombing that never relented. the situation on the ground is dictating strategy simply because russian troops are stretched too thin. they have suffered massive casualties. 16000 and counting. 50,000 disabled soldiers, etc.. what i am concerned about is despite the signals, this is another ploy by vladimir putin to try to win time to regroup a

we can now speak to peter zalmayev, who's director of the eurasia democracy initiative. raine. he is now back in ukraine, we are not disclosing exactly where he is for obvious reasons. how are you? fine, thank you. all things considered, i say fine but you have to take it with a grain of salt! point out what are you feeling about the prospect of this very long russian convoy of military vehicles reaching your capital at some point? i'm feeling that vladimir putin has suffered a significant setback to his military machine, his plans of a quick and decisive and bloodless victory, it's not looking like that, he is desperate and going after population centres and committing a whole series of war crimes on population centres and therefore this show of force and the decision by president lukashenko to join up with him and start sending his tanks across the border, it speaks of a desperation and a very bloody scenario in the days ahead for ukraine. i guess this would be comparable to what the russians did in chechnya in the 90s, because on the one hand you have this desperation

peter zalmayev — director of the eurasia democracy initiative — joins me now from kyiv.been a while since we have spoken. talk us through what happened overnight in kyiv. there have been attacks in the capital, haven't they? it there have been attacks in the capital, haven't they?- capital, haven't they? it has been three _ capital, haven't they? it has been three weeks _ capital, haven't they? it has been three weeks i - capital, haven't they? it has been three weeks i have - capital, haven't they? it hasj been three weeks i have not stepped for in my apartment, i have spent the night here and working around the central kyiv until 8pm which was when curfew kicks in and you are not allowed to stay outside in the war area. allowed to stay outside in the wararea. their allowed to stay outside in the war area. their defence missiles are going off and tracerfire for a few missiles are going off and tracer fire for a few minutes in the smack of the centre, you could see sonic booms and when i got home there was a hughes explosion that rattled my windows and shook my bed. it w

thank you very much, peter zalmayev, joining us from near kyiv. appreciate it. after mr. zelenskyy's speech to congress, the american president is expected to announce another round of assistance to ukraine. this comes as joe biden plans a trip to europe next week to attend a meeting in person of nato leaders, an extraordinary meeting, as well as meeting with european council leader. kaitlan collins has details from washington. >> yeah, president zelenskyy and president biden both expected to give major speeches on wednesday. first ukraine president zelenskyy is going to address the united states congress where we know he is going to thank the united states for the support that they have given to ukraine since russia invaded. but he is also expected to ask the west for more assistance. and two of his major demands have been to create a no-fly zone over ukraine, and also to send the ukrainian air force more fighter jets. two things that have been firm no's from the white house so far, citing conflicts they believe that could draw the united states into, and the high-risk s